Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign

Naval Operations in the Dardanelles Campaign
Part of the Gallipoli Campaign
The last moments of the French battleship Bouvet, 18 March 1915
Date 19 February – 18 March 1915 Location Dardanelles, Ottoman Empire Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
British Empire  France  Russia	Ottoman Empire  German Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sackville Carden John de Robeck Émile Guépratte	Cevat Çobanlı
Strength
1 battleship 3 battlecruisers 28 pre-dreadnoughts 23 cruisers 25 destroyers 13 submarines 1 Seaplane Carrier	Various mines and forts; otherwise unknown 2 pre-dreadnoughts
Casualties and losses
1 battlecruiser heavily damaged 3 pre-dreadnoughts sunk 3 pre-dreadnoughts heavily damaged 1 cruiser damaged 700 killed (ship crews on March 18)	1 minelayer 40 killed 78 wounded (land crews on March 18)

The naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign of the First World War were mainly carried out by the Royal Navy with substantial support from the French and minor contributions from Russia and Australia. The Dardanelles Campaign began as a purely naval operation. When that failed to overcome Ottoman defences, an invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula was launched in which naval forces were heavily involved. Throughout the campaign, attempts were made by submarines to pass through the Dardanelles and disrupt Ottoman Empire shipping in the Sea of Marmara.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire had the reputation of being the "sick man of Europe", weakened by political instability, military defeat and civil strife, following a century of slow decline. The economic resources of the Ottoman Empire were depleted by the cost of the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and the French, British and Germans had offered financial aid. A pro-German faction influenced by Enver Pasha, the former Ottoman military attaché in Berlin, opposed the pro-British majority in the Ottoman cabinet and tried to secure closer relations with Germany. In December 1913, the Germans sent a military mission to Constantinople, headed by General Otto Liman von Sanders. The geographical position of the Ottoman Empire meant that Russia and her allies France and Britain had a significant interest in Turkish neutrality in the event of war in Europe.

During the Sarajevo Crisis in 1914, German diplomats offered Turkey an anti-Russian alliance and territorial gains in Caucasia, north-west Iran and Trans-Caspia. The pro-British faction in the Cabinet was isolated due to the British ambassador taking leave until 18 August. As the crisis deepened in Europe, Ottoman policy was to obtain a guarantee of territorial integrity and potential advantages, unaware that the British might enter a European war. On 30 July 1914, two days after the outbreak of the war in Europe, the Ottoman leaders agreed to form a secret Ottoman-German Alliance against Russia, although it did not require them to undertake military action.

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Wikipedia